The Early Stages play on and off throughout the afternoon, starting at 2pm.

From the Azul House …

“We are celebrating Peru’s first EVER National Pachamanca Day! A time for everyone to gather around for a cornucopia of potatoes, corn ears, humitas, and giant slabs of well-marinated meat — stacked carefully in layers, and sealed under hot rocks for hours.

5% of Proceeds will be going to Texans for Stem Cell Research in support of “Cancer’s New Champions,” for help fund clinical trials for a cure for Childhood Brain Cancer.

“On their second single, this Austin, Texas, quartet gets a bit more defined than they were on their very cool debut. It’s still a little hard to figure out what period of rock they are trying to reinvent, but they conjure up a wild assortment of blats (I swear there are moments that remind me Keith Reif-era Renaissance) while channeling a basic extension of art punk (as defined by Wire). This single brings the band’s punky attributes more to the fore, but never in a doctrinaire way. Excellent.”

… hard to beat, but here’s a review that is super positive about one side of the single from Maximum RockNRoll …

“On first listen, this didn’t quite grab me as much as their excellent first EP. The title track meanders loosely around an admittedly catchy melodic figure, but doesn’t really go anywhere. Luckily, the flip returns to previous form: “1992” is a bright, shambolic pop song worthy of anything the CLEAN put out, while “The New Sunrise” illuminates with licks reminiscent of TELEVISION and conversational vocals that remind me of post-YUMMY FUR act 1990s, I’m hoping the A-side will grow on me but this is worth it for the B-side alone (which I’ve listened two several times in a row now.”

“On February 18th, Zulema learned that her cancer had spread. She has just completed radiation therapy, and will begin chemotherapy in a couple of weeks. Even with health insurance she is still incurring out of pocket expenses, and is unable to work during this time. We put together this benefit show with some rad bands, all friends with Zulema, making it even more special. There will be a raffle with a bunch of great prizes including handmade jewelry, artwork, haircuts, and gift certificates. Please come out and support Zulema. She truly is one of the best people we know.”

“Early Stages are an Austin, Texas quartet who’s single reminds me of some of the oddball groups who were putting stuff out just before the punk thing came along. While this has a real churn to it, its proggy underlayer and vocals are somewhere between Armand Schaubroeck and Donnie Jupiter. Curiously appealing.”

“Sublime art punk from Austin, Texas. A mish mash of the Dunedin sound, Chairs Missing era WIRE or even Colin Newman solo material, and early REM. Great stuff. This is their first vinyl release. I look forward to hearing more.”

That was about as sweet as a review can be, and from a magazine that can be pretty vicious when they don’t like something. So, thanks to Allan McNaughton who wrote that.

Despite printing the least amount possible of a single, there are still copies available.

The Early Stages are playing the wonderful Spiderhouse Ballroom. There’s some sort of theme around Aztecs but I’m not quite sure what yet and the internet was little help. But, drink specials and it’s the day after Thanksgiving. Gonna be a party for sure. Event on Facebook.